Nemisa execs quit amid R50m digital training programme investigation

Both the CEO and the chair of the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (Nemisa) left the organisation this week amid wrangling over an investigation into financial misconduct involving a training programme that has already cost more than R50m.

One of the findings is that some training companies were paid up to R25,200 a learner. For the same training other providers were paid R800 a learner.

Nemisa, a public entity under the department of communications and digital technologies, provides ICT and media training to youth, women and small businesses in rural and township areas. It develops curricula spanning digital literacy to fourth industrial revolution advocacy. In partnership with the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority (Bankseta), the programme provided training in key digital skills for unemployed youth in six provinces.

Several investigations, the latest by internal auditors Khulagro Advisory, implicated Nemisa CEO Trevor Rammitlwa in alleged misconduct related to the appointment of the programme’s training service providers. Rammitlwa left Nemisa this week after communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi rejected a request by the board for his contract to be renewed for a third time, after it expired last September.

The investigation into the allegations against the CEO was completed in May 2026, finding prima facie evidence of wrongdoing. — Communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi

“The investigation into the allegations against the CEO was completed in May 2026, finding prima facie evidence of wrongdoing,” Malatsi said. Despite these findings, the chair requested a further six-month extension of the CEO’s contract to exhaust disciplinary processes.

“I declined this request and informed the board that a further extension would be wholly unacceptable,” Malatsi said, expressing frustration that the board took more than a month to finalise the terms of reference and failed to conclude the probe within three months.

“The board was instructed to handle any disciplinary processes against the CEO even upon his leaving his post, as is permitted under the Companies Act,” he added.

Rammitlwa confirmed he was no longer with Nemisa. He said his exit was the natural conclusion of his five-year contract, which had been initially extended, while Nemisa’s board described his departure as due to his refusal of further extensions.

Rammitlwa also denied the allegations against him, saying they were a smear campaign to tarnish his image and Nemisa’s achievements.

“The repeated submission of the same claims, especially each time my contract reaches the end, is indicative of an orchestrated smear campaign to tarnish my name and the progressive achievements that Nemisa has reached. These include three consecutive clean audits since 2022/23 financial year, and expansion of training initiatives,” he said.

“In my substantive response to the investigation, I vehemently deny all the findings raised as they are not based on evidence. My response is supported by documentary evidence, and it is for this reason that I have initiated a process to take the flawed investigation report through a legal review process,” Rammitlwa said.

One of the allegations is that Nemisa paid four service providers R7,650, R25,200, and R20,250 a learner for training in digital literacy, digital entrepreneurship, and emerging technologies respectively. Other companies were paid R300, R800, and an undisclosed amount respectively.

He ascribed the price inconsistencies to some training requiring more resource-intensive delivery and involving accredited programmes with longer durations, formal assessments and additional costs such as catering and data.

These higher per-learner rates were not arbitrary, and had been formally approved by both the Bankseta and Nemisa board at the project’s inception.

Nemisa’s board this week said the final report presented in June made findings of serious supply-chain failures, irregular relationships and influences, and recommended disciplinary action against the CEO.

The scandal appears to have ensnared Nemisa board chair Lionel Adendorf, who resigned this week, a day after being contacted by the Sunday Times.

Nemisa confirmed that Adendorf announced his retirement from the organisation once Nemisa’s new CEO was appointed and settled.

Adendorf was accused by a whistleblower of trying to shield Rammitlwa by delaying any action against him and withholding information about the matter from the new board after its appointment in September 2024. He, along with Nomonde Hlatshaneni, were part of Nemisa’s previous board which first learnt of allegations against Rammitlwa from an internal audit probe.

This week Adendorf, who Nemisa insiders said was the one who moved in 2024 that the issue be dealt with by the chairperson, refused to say why he did not inform his new fellow members about crucial allegations of financial misconduct against the CEO. He also refused to clarify why the board would initially petition the minister for a five-year reappointment of Rammitlwa while facing these allegations.

Instead, Adendorf said there was no report, either from the former chairperson or the company secretary, on the issue and therefore he could not bring it up. He noted it was unfair to single him out as a board member for decisions and resolutions taken by the collective.

Nemisa’s board emphasised that when it took office in 2024, there was no report or handover from the previous board over these matters. While two members were reappointed, the new board only became aware of the issues when the whistleblower report was received in June 2025.

The board also denied allegations that there were delays in investigating these issues or that it had been shielding anyone. To prevent future lapses, the board has since adopted a formal handover procedure to guide transitions.